The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) aims to ensure that your home doesn't have any serious hazards, and enables a council to take action against landlords whose properties are dangerous.

The HHSRS assesses faults in your house and how they might affect your health and safety. The HHSRS considers how likely it is that a hazard would occur and how serious the outcome would be.

The HHSRS assessment looks at whether your home has:

dampness, condensation, and mould growth

rats, cockroaches and other vermin infestations

broken glass, falling plaster, or dangerous or decaying stairs

faulty or dangerous gas or electrical installations

blocked drains or problems with rubbish or sewage

unacceptable noise levels

damaged asbestos

smoke fumes or gases

It covers problems in communal areas and outside spaces as well as inside the house.

HHSRS and shared houses

If you live in a house in multiple occupation (HMO), there are also limits on the number of people who can live in the property. The number of people allowed to live there depends on the number and location of cooking, washing and
toilet facilities. The property must also meet fire safety standards.

Get advice if you live in an HMO and think any of these facilities are not adequate.

Council action if your home is unfit

If you report the situation to the environmental health department, an officer should come to inspect your home. If they decide that your home includes a serious hazard, they have to take action. They can do this by:

issuing a hazard awareness notice – this warns the landlord that the council is aware of the problem

giving your landlord an improvement notice, ordering the landlord to carry out certain repairs or improvements by a certain time

ordering the closure of all or part of a building or restricting the number of people who live in the property

taking emergency action to do the repairs themselves and reclaim the costs from the landlord

making an order to demolish the property

buying the property from the landlord under the compulsory purchase rules

For less serious problems, they do not have to take action but they might decide to do so in order to avoid future problems.